Time to Make Some Decisions

Blogging is an industry that’s growing in leaps and bounds. Quite simply, it’s incredible how many blogs are out there. They exist for just about every topic you can imagine. It makes sense. A blog is a place where you have control, you make your own decisions, and you can be yourself. You decide what to write and what content to include. You can design your site any way you please, and you can turn it into whatever you want it to be. Or so they say.

Sure, you can choose a theme, and you can customize your site with add-ons and plug-ins, but all of these things come with a price. I don’t necessarily mean price in terms of dollars and cents, though this is can absolutely be the case. I’m talking more in terms of time consumption and headaches.

The Struggle Continues

My struggle to learn the ins and outs of building a blogging website has not diminished over the past several days. If anything, it’s gotten even more complicated. (Gee, I never could’ve seen that one coming.) I can’t even count how many times I find myself staring at my computer screen in utter confusion. This whole process has been far more complicated than I had ever imagined.

In all fairness, my struggle is most likely my own fault. The internet is rife with readily available resources to help guide me through the process. Seriously, though, who has the time or energy to sift through all that? I spend all day on my computer for work. The last thing I want to do is stare at a screen for eight more hours.

Nevertheless, I am slowly gaining some insight into the under workings of a website. Let me tell you, it is complex. At least, it is for someone with zero prior knowledge and high levels of stubbornness and independence. (Not currently a great combination, in case you were wondering.) The more I learn, the more I realize how deep the rabbit hole goes.

On to Making Decisions (Yikes)

The greatest lesson I’ve learned in this process thus far is that building a website requires a massive level of dedication, especially if I actually want it to be successful. It takes time and patience, both of which I seem to currently lack. I’ve realized that if I want to truly pursue this, then I’m going to have to make some tough decisions. I struggle with regular, everyday decisions, so you can imagine my excitement.

I have to decide what’s more important to me: making money or doing something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. To some, this may seem like an easy decision. It hasn’t been though. I’ve never liked spending money (I’m a banker’s daughter), and the idea of dipping into my savings to allow myself to cut back on my work assignments doesn’t sound all that appealing. Plus, there’s no guarantee I’ll be successful in any way.

Successful or not, I think I have to give it a try. I’ve wanted to be my own boss for a long time, and now is as good a time as any. I figure if I put it off any longer, then I’ll never get around to doing it. I’m an exceptionally good procrastinator, after all. So I’m taking the plunge. I’m going all in on my dreams of freedom and taking control of my life.

That being said, I still need some source of income, so I’ve decided to attempt the monetization of this site. I’m not entirely sure how to go about this, but I plan to read up on it more in the coming days. The one step I’ve taken is to sign up for the Amazon associate’s program. I don’t want to push products on anyone, but I figure I can at least recommend some of the things I like. What’s the harm in that?

I’m going to add a link for a Coffee Grinder as my first attempt at this. (I happen to need one, so it’s on my mind.) Somehow I’ve ended up spending several hours trying to make sense of how to do this using the plugins, so I’m at a point where I have to just try it and hope for the best.

Spreading the Word

The other decision I’ve had to make regarding my site is how to go about spreading the word that it exists. I’m not going to go into the details of how SEO campaigns work (because it’s boring for the most part), but that’s one way to do it. The other way is social media.

Those who know me well know how bad I am at social media. It’s not that I inherently dislike it, though I can’t say I’m a big fan. It’s more that I simply don’t care about it enough to get good at it. I suppose, however, this is going to have to change if I want to utilize it for the growth of my website. We’ll see how that goes.

If you’ve taken the time to read this far, I appreciate it. I would be ever so grateful if you would help me spread the word. Now that I’ve chosen to dedicate more time to this project, I’m hoping I can deliver something worthwhile. So bear with me, and we can take this journey together.

Edit: Turns out adding an associate link was super easy. I’m talking copy and paste easy… I made it far more complicated than necessary. Like I said, the rabbit hole goes deep.

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